


Metronome

by FreeTheSoul



Category: Kagerou Project
Genre: Fluff, M/M, konoshin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-04-18 02:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4689275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreeTheSoul/pseuds/FreeTheSoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A disconnected collection of domestic/fluff KonoShin oneshots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> to clarify, this is where im going to put short (id say averaging between 1k-2k, but they could be shorter/longer) konoshin fics that are in no way connected to eachother. the reason im doing this instead of just posting them all separate is so that im not spamming the tag with fics, and also so that i can write things with perhaps sometimes more vague openings and etc. also, it saves me the trouble of having to think of so many titles, because lord knows im bad with titles.
> 
> im not sure how often this will update. ill try to keep it going semi-frequently? hmm. props to the skype convos with my friend that inspired a good number of these.

  Konoha didn't seem to see the same problem that Shintaro did with sleeping together in Shintaro's bed in nothing but his boxers.

  When Konoha had decided he wanted to sleep at the Kisaragi household, Shintaro hadn't seen any reason to deny him. It'd probably keep him from causing trouble with everyone else, after all. He hadn't known, at the time, that Konoha wanted to go to sleep in _Shintaro's_ bed, but he didn't have to heart to tell him no then, either.

  However, Shintaro realized too late that Konoha was very tall, and large, and lanky. None of Shintaro's clothes really fit him, aside from a select few hoodies, meaning that Konoha didn't have anything to sleep in. Konoha didn't feel like there was an issue with this, no matter how much Shintaro wanted to whimper about how he was not, _absolutely_ not, going to sleep beside someone who was practically naked. Unfortunately, he didn't have the courage to actually voice any of these complaints, and he could only pray that the rest of his family didn't decide to get any strange ideas.

  He looked away while Konoha slowly pulled off his many layers of clothing and stripped down to his underwear, instead choosing to focus on a particularly interesting corner. Leaving his clothing in a pile, Konoha walked over to the bed and rolled himself into the sheets.

  "Good night, Shintaro," he called softly, curling up against one of the pillows and straddling it loosely.

  "Night, Konoha," Shintaro replied, turning back to his computer while Konoha stopped his shuffling.

  Shintaro ignored the sudden thought that he wouldn't mind being there, instead of the pillow. He wasn't gay, he reassured himself. Not at all.

  ...Maybe a bit.

  Shaking that away, he wiped his face with his hand. It stung his eyes when they readjusted to the monitor, but that was easy enough to ignore. He had things he still wanted to do, and it was only... Oh, he remarked internally. It was already 2 am. Not that that was anything particularly late - at least not in his opinion. Then again, considering he'd actually had a reason to sleep recently, he  _was_ feeling more tired than he usually did around this time of night.

  Interacting with people was really exhausting, he mused, and then he went back to focusing on what he'd been doing earlier. Ene was chattering in his ear, but he'd discovered that if he nodded a lot and got her ranting about something - usually at his expense, but what else was new - it wasn't so bad. He could drown her out with the sound of his keyboard, if he typed fast enough.

  All said, perhaps the thing Shintaro regretted the most - and there were plenty of things that he regretted, as he'd discovered - was that he hadn't realized how much Konoha snored. It might not have been so bad if it wasn't loud, but it  _was,_ and it was  _really annoying._ It was difficult for Shintaro to hate him for any of the things he did, but this was pushing it.

  After several minutes, during which it became clear that Konoha wasn't going to miraculously stop, Shintaro decided that the only way he would be able to concentrate was if he turned his volume up high, and that only made Ene more annoying. Accepting defeat, he closed his projects and got up from his desk.

  How someone with a voice so soft could make that much of a racket was anyone's guess.

  For a moment he considered changing in the bathroom, but decided it would be pointless if Konoha was fast asleep and Ene had already seen worse. He remained in the middle of the room while he undressed himself, tossing his bundle of clothes toward the closet after he'd put on nightwear. Moving over to the bed, Shintaro paused a moment while he looked at Konoha.

  Somehow, Konoha had already managed to kick off half the bed sheets, and the pillow from earlier had disappeared entirely. He was now lying in the middle of the bed, arms and legs outstretched and taking up the majority of the space on the mattress. Sitting down on the very edge of the bed, Shintaro watched him for a moment. He made a careful attempt at pushing Konoha to the side a bit, but between not knowing where to put his hands and not wanting to risk waking him up, Shintaro was forced to give up.

  Awkwardly, Shintaro carefully edged his way into the bed, trying his best not to move too much. Konoha didn't particularly seem like the type to be a light sleeper, but Shintaro wasn't going to chance it. He clung to the edge, breathing a sigh of relief as he shuffled his way under the sheets and managed to keep himself from touching Konoha's near-naked body.

  However, Shintaro was only given a moment of peace before Konoha rolled over towards him in his sleep, slinging an arm over Shintaro and pulling him in closer until they were squeezed together. He felt something on his neck, and immediately realized that Konoha's head had moved so close that his nose was against Shintaro. He could feel Konoha's breath, warm and soothingly regular.

  Shintaro's entire body had gone rigid, and he made an attempt at removing himself from Konoha's grip that, ultimately, proved useless. He made a small squeak of a sound while he felt his body heat up, although he still felt cooler than Konoha's exposed skin.

  At least the snoring had stopped. 

  Giving up on trying to free himself, Shintaro gave his best effort at relaxing and tried to ignore his circumstances. Shuffling himself under the weight of Konoha's arm, Shintaro made himself more comfortable and finally closed his eyes. He couldn't help but focus on the breath on his neck, and the way it faintly tickled every time Konoha breathed out. He expected to have to lie there for hours before he could fall asleep due to the unfamiliarity of the situation, but before he even realized it he was already too tired to open up his eyes, and then moments later he'd succumbed to blackness.

  When Shintaro woke up in the morning, the only thing he could process was that he was cold, and that for some reason he didn't have any sheets covering him. Still too asleep to bother opening up his eyes, he shuffled around and figured out that, while the left of him was cold, the right was very much the opposite. With that being the only thought that occupied his mind, he rolled over and curled himself up against the comfortably familiar warmth. Clinging to it loosely, he shifted his head so that it was lying against it, something soft tickling his nose in the process.

  He still couldn't find any of the sheets, but he figured that this was more comfortable. Satisfied with having been able to escape the chills that had crawled into the bed, Shintaro fell back to the clutches of sleep.

  The second time Shintaro woke up, he really did wake up. He tried to move around while he blinked open his eyes, however he realized he was blocked by something in front of him, and there was something else half-curled around his back. Finally opening up his eyes in order to figure out what it was, he froze when he realized his circumstances.

  In front of him, obviously, was Konoha, who was still asleep and wearing as little clothing as he had been before. Snoring lightly, it seemed that at some point he'd let go of Shintaro and rolled back on to his back. Shintaro's head had tucked itself into the crook of his neck, and he could feel Konoha's hair brushing against his face as he breathed. The rest of Shintaro was loosely clinging to Konoha, arms wrapped around him and pulling the two closer together.

  Immediately, Shintaro pulled himself away, although he did feel a moment's regret over it. Konoha stirred at the movement, and Shintaro was checking the clock - 11 am, it told him - when he looked back down and noticed that lidded pink eyes were watching him.

  "Good... morning, Shin-ta-ro..." Konoha mumbled in between his yawns, and his blinks were so slow that Shintaro thought he was going to fall asleep again. After a moment of stretching he pulled himself up some more, propping himself against a pillow so that the two of them were on a more even level.

  "...Morning, Konoha." Shintaro responded, however he couldn't stop thinking about how little of Konoha's body was covered. Stopping his eyes from wandering too far down, he snapped his gaze back up to Konoha's face. Then again, between the sleepy smile and disheveled hair, that wasn't serving Shintaro any better.

  "Mmm, Shintaro..." Konoha repeated his name sleepily and leaned in, looping his arms around Shintaro's torso. Before Shintaro could even begin to react, a sloppy kiss had been placed on his cheek. "I love you, Shinta-ro."

  Shintaro's chest tightened at the sudden display of affection, and he could swear his heart was in his throat. He smiled fondly despite his embarrassment, and Konoha beamed back, covering Shintaro's face with more soft, barely-lingering kisses. They fell back onto the bed with a gentle bounce while Konoha giggled.

  Shintaro raised his hands, brushing back the hair that had fallen in front of Konoha's face and gently linking his fingers behind his head. Konoha watched him do this with wide, curious eyes. Pulling their faces just slightly closer, Shintaro bent in and pressed their lips together.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy 9/7! today's actually holiday where i live! also double update! hooray! (i also updated the notes on the first chapter, so you might wanna check that out for more info + other things)
> 
> [this particular entry might maybe edge on a teen rating for a couple innuendos]

  "Shintaro," Konoha said, "you have a small, white animal."

  Konoha was crouched in the corner of Shintaro's room, head tilted almost parallel with the ground while he stared at Tono in her cage.

  Shintaro looked up, turning around from where he'd been sorting through his closet. Konoha, who had turned to look at Shintaro until they made eye contact, looked back and pointed at her.

  "What is it, Shintaro? It looks soft." He tentatively stuck a finger through the bars, hopeful look disappearing after a few moments when it became evident Tono wasn't going to come any closer to him.

  "That's my rabbit." Shintaro stood up, walking over to stand beside Konoha, who had pulled his finger out of the cage and was now staring up at Shintaro.

  "Rabbit? What's that?" Konoha had the usual dazed look on his face that he did whenever he was told something new, and he didn't seem to mind that his bangs had slipped into his eyes.

  Shintaro paused for a moment, quietly _hmm_ ing while he tried to figure out the simplest explanation. "Rabbits... are, well, they're like that," He pointed towards Tono, and he faintly realized that that was the worst description he'd ever heard in his life, "...usually. Some of them are really big or really small, but she's pretty normal sized."

  Konoha nodded, clearly taking this very seriously. "She has really big ears," he stated, staring at them while he spoke.

  "Yeah... bunnies are like that." Shintaro crouched down beside Konoha as he spoke.

  "Bunnies?"

  "Oh... er, bunny is another word for rabbit." Shintaro scratched his cheek in embarrassment, and his hand slipped on the cage latch when Konoha giggled for whatever reason. "A-anyways, rabbits are... y'know, herbivores. So they only eat vegetables, that kinda stuff."

  "Ah! I know what herbivores are. That's what triceratops were." Konoha beamed at Shintaro, who nodded slowly. He'd almost forgotten that Konoha was obsessed with dinosaurs. "Hmm... Shintaro, does that mean that rabbits and triceratops are similar?"

  Shintaro snorted at the sudden question, "I sure hope not."

  "Hmm," Konoha pouted, "I think it would be fun if I could have a pet triceratops. Then I could ride it around everywhere, like, um, hos... hors..."

  "Horses," Shintaro supplied, before Konoha could make that sentence sound any worse.

  "Yeah! Horses. I could ride it around everywhere like people do with horses. Don't you think that would be cool, Shintaro?" He smiled, and Shintaro didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise.

  "Er... sure, Konoha." Shintaro replied, more focused on coaxing Tono out of the corner. Konoha watched in silence as he pulled her out and gently held her, and then followed him as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

  The room was quiet as Shintaro calmed her down, and Konoha examined his movements carefully until he seemed to think of something. "Oh... Shintaro, does your bunny have a name?"

  Shintaro looked up, "Uh? Oh, yeah. Her name's Tono."

  "To-no?" Konoha repeated.

  "Yeah. Tono. She likes raspberries." He paused, "They aren't very good for her, though, so she can't eat them often..."

  While Shintaro rambled, Konoha had turned back to look at his rabbit. He was staring at Tono with an odd sort of look, obviously thinking hard about something. Shintaro peered at him, and neither of them moved for a few moments.

  "U-uh, and she isn't food--"

  "Tono... sounds familiar."

  The room was silent, following Konoha's sudden comment. Shintaro's eyes narrowed as he watched him. If he hadn't even known what a rabbit was, and had obviously found the name to be new, how could he have...

  "Oh! I know," Konoha interrupted Shintaro's train of thought, and they looked at one another for a moment as Shintaro snapped back to reality. "The other day, Momo was telling me she had to feed her."

  Shintaro's expression relaxed, but his gaze did linger on Konoha's smile for a moment. "Oh," he exhaled. "Alright."

  An uncomfortable silence descended as Shintaro continued to caress Tono. After a few minutes he noticed that Konoha's hands were shuffling an awful lot, fingers fidgeting as he watched the rabbit.

  "If you want, Konoha, you could pet her." Shintaro tried not to let his smile show too much, but he couldn't tell how successful he'd been.

  Konoha looked up, clearly not having realized his desires were so obvious. "I can? Are you sure?"

  "Mmm," Shintaro hummed, "I don't see why not. Just, be careful, alright? Be gentle." To be honest, he could see a lot of reasons why not, but he figured he'd trust Konoha this time. Gingerly, he lifted Tono off of his own lap and placed her on Konoha's.

  Konoha seemed to have taken his warning to heart, because he seemed almost afraid to touch her. He spent a minute letting his hands shuffle around her, wisping almost close enough to make contact and then immediately receding again, until eventually he looked up at Shintaro with an utterly hopeless look on his face.

  "Shintaro," Konoha's voice sounded like it was on the verge of cracking into tears, "I don't want to... break her."

  Shintaro stopped and stared at Konoha for a moment, and then his expression relaxed as he reached out and gently took one of Konoha's hands. Gently, he flattened out the fingers, and directed it in a stroking motion down Tono's back.

  "See?" Shintaro looked up and let go. "Just don't use too much pressure."

  Konoha nodded silently, closing his gaping mouth as he turned to stare down at his hand as if it was suddenly something incredibly foreign. Carefully, he repeated the motion Shintaro had made him do, and then relaxed into petting the top of Tono's head. A moment later a wide smile appeared on his face.

  "She's soft, Shintaro! Really soft." He looked down, and then back up to Shintaro. "Oh, and! Her fur is white, Shintaro. The same color as my hair." He reached up a hand, going cross-eyed for a moment as he pulled up a strand of hair to demonstrate.

  "Mmhmm," Shintaro nodded, and Konoha immediately let the hair drop back down in the middle of his face. "Both your eyes are pink, too."

  Thinking about it, Shintaro supposed that Konoha was albino, although he hadn't really realized it beforehand. There were weirder things about him than the colors of his eyes and hair, in Shintaro's opinion. Distractedly, Shintaro wondered if the carpet matched the drapes, but he shook that away before he could focus on it too much.

  While Shintaro had been busy with perhaps less than pure thoughts, Konoha had peered into Tono's face and made the subsequent exclamation of realization. Giggling, he went back to focusing on petting her.

  Nothing else happened for a long few minutes, until Konoha spoke up again.

  "Do you want another bunny, Shintaro?"

  "Huh?" He paused, "Uh... I dunno. Maybe." He was too busy watching Konoha's hands rub Tono's ears to really answer properly, but he figured a vague 'yes' was good enough.

  Konoha nodded, continuing his line of questioning. "Do you want a boy?"

  "What?" Shintaro actually looked up that time, wondering what could have prompted that.

  Konoha stopped stroking Tono for a moment, pausing to think. "Kano told me that when a girl and a boy have--"

  "Ah-- Yep!" Shintaro interrupted with the first sound that came to mind, but at least it made Konoha stop talking. He didn't need _Konoha,_ of all people, explaining _that_ concept to him. "I, uh. I know."

  "Oh. Alright." Konoha looked back down at Tono for a moment, shuffling himself around slightly so that she had a bit of a better position on his lap. "Kano also told me that people who really like eachother do it, too," he continued softly and looked up at Shintaro, who felt his stomach twist. "Do you--"

  Shintaro stood up, making the bed rock. A small squeak came from Konoha as he tried to keep himself stable and Tono comfortable on his lap. Shintaro shoved his hands in his pockets, half in defense, and half because he didn't want Konoha to notice how much they were shaking.

  "U-uh, I'm gonna go... uh, give some choice words to Kano." He looked up at Konoha for a moment, but immediately turned back to his feet. "A-about, uh... Um. Okay,"

  Shintaro made his exit quickly, leaving Konoha and Tono alone in the room. Bored, Konoha placed Tono on the bed and let her sit there while he lay down on his side and continued to pet her lazily.

  Shintaro returned soon enough, still somewhat shaken, but better after he'd been able to release some of his nervous energy over a phone call with Kano. Then again, Kano's teasing hadn't helped, much, either, but recently he'd been trying not to let the wisecracks get to him so much.

  Having been woken up from the nap he'd been slipping into, Konoha rolled on to his back when he heard Shintaro enter, head and arms half slipping off the bed.

  "Hello," he yawned, "Shintaro."

  "Hi, Konoha," Shintaro sighed, sitting down next to him. Konoha shuffled beside him, and then Shintaro felt arms wrap around his waist, and Konoha had pulled his head onto Shintaro's lap to use it as a pillow. Shintaro stiffened and he immediately felt his chest heat up, but he tried to force himself to relax. Konoha nuzzled against Shintaro's chest, making a soft, content sort of sound as he settled.

  "Konoha," Shintaro started, but it was already too late. He could hear Konoha's gentle snores, already, and he wondered if Konoha's most desireable superhuman prowess was his uncanny ability to fall asleep within moments. "...Jeez." He finished, voice barely louder than a murmur.

  Shintaro was looking around for some way to detach himself without waking up Konoha, when he heard a small sound. Noticing that it had come from somewhere below him, he looked down as the noise repeated itself.

  "--ta-ro... Shin... taro..." It was Konoha, mumbling his name. Shintaro peered down and blanched when he realized that he was still very much asleep, which seemed to imply Konoha was having some kind of dream about him. Beginning to sweat, Shintaro pulled his face away in the hopes of being able to breathe better, but it didn't help much.

  Absolutely unsure of what to do, Shintaro reached down and tentatively brushed the bangs out of Konoha's face. In response, a faint smile pulled at Konoha's lips, and he subconsciously rubbed his cheek against the hand. Shintaro removed himself before he could enjoy it too much, and Konoha turned back towards his stomach.

  At this point, Shintaro didn't possess an ounce of willpower to separate the two of them anymore, and deep down he didn't particularly _want_ to, either. Letting out a long sigh, he fell backwards onto the bed and let himself lie with his legs hanging off the side. The room was quiet as the bed rocked itself for a moment, and Shintaro stared up at the ceiling.

  Until, of course, Tono, who had also been awoken by Shintaro, decided to shuffle over and investigate. He shivered when he felt the sudden coldness of her nose against his cheek, and then there was a physical pressure on his chest as she put her paw on it.

  "Tono--"

  She ignored his quiet complaint, clambering up on top of him.

  "Please, come on--"

  Settling down, she stared at him as he made a weak attempt to lift up his head.

  "I'll give you," he grunted, "I'll give you fruit if you--"

  She ignored his offers, closing her eyes and exhaling quietly. Shintaro's neck gave out in the following moment, and he was forced to simply stare at the ceiling again.

  Trying to bargain with a rabbit _was_ pretty pathetic, Shintaro had to admit.

  He sighed again, trying to adjust his breathing against the warm weight on his chest and across his waist. Now he _really_ couldn't move, he realized.

  As he succumbed to the reality that he would not be getting up for a very long time, Shintaro wondered if there were more similarities between Konoha and Tono than just the colors of their hair and eyes. Eventually, he was too tired to bother thinking about that, and then he, too, lulled into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> september seventh! which is also band geeks day, just an fyi.
> 
> [this entry probably has an already-established relationship. spoilers for novel 4!]

  Shintaro was not a stranger to nightmares.

  He'd been having them regularly for the past few years, and it had reached the point where it felt unnatural _not_ to have them.

  He couldn't remember them, most of the time. That, or he only recalled vague fragments, of voices and hands and _moments._

  He liked it better when he couldn't remember them at all, because at least then he could ignore them better. Having to deal with a constant, vaguely upset feeling wasn't anything particularly new, to him. Ignorance was bliss, as they said.

  Unfortunately for Shintaro, they'd become more persistent in passing days, and the memory lingered longer. At first, they'd been solely about people he couldn't forget but wanted to all the same, and then they warped into darker things. Guns, and death, and screaming, and uncomfortable black, black that scared him more than any other color or shade on the spectrum.

  The incident with Konoha and the cliff had not, unsurprisingly, helped him out very much. That had simply added an even thicker layer of fear to his subconscious, plaguing his dreams with screams, the sensation of falling into nothing but air, and choked whispers of _"we're friends"._

  Konoha dying and staying dead, of his last words being mumbled at Shintaro while blood pooled around them both and didn't stop until long after his body had gone cold, of the sound of someone else saying _"I'm sorry this happened again,"_ in his ear, but no one being there.

  Then Shintaro woke up in a dark room, on the verge of hyperventilating while his heart pounded its way out of his chest. His fingers grasped at the sheets as he thrashed on what he realized was a bed, and there was a pressure on his chest that was choking him, and he couldn't _breathe--_

  The pressure released, Shintaro gulping in air as whatever the weight had been raised itself in front of him. Pink eyes blinked open, and Konoha shook his head sleepily. Right. Konoha had been asleep on top of him, Shintaro realized, and then the following moment he was crying, tears and mucus starting to drip down his face while Konoha stared at him.

  "Shintaro...? Uh?" He shuffled on the bed, pushing himself up and beginning to pale as his tired brain processed the situation. "Shintaro? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

  Shintaro's throat hurt too much to form anything more coherent than a low wail. Reaching out a hand, he made a tentative grab at Konoha's arm. After he'd reassured himself that he wasn't just imagining him, Shintaro pulled himself up and tucked his head into Konoha's chest, hugging him with all the strength he could muster.

  "Shintaro?" Konoha asked again, loosely wrapping his arms around Shintaro's back in an attempt to comfort him.

  "Y-you..." Shintaro choked out, face still pressed against Konoha's chest. He lifted up his head to stare at Konoha's wide eyes, drawing shaky, gulping breaths as he tried to calm himself down. "Konoha, you're... you're not..." he hiccuped, "...d-dead, right?"

  Konoha shook his head, "Mmm, no, I don't think so," He looked at himself, and then back to Shintaro. "Do you want me to be? If it will make you less upset--"

  "No!" Shintaro interrupted quickly, squeezing his face back down into his chest and trying to pull them even closer together. "No, no... I don't. Please..." Another sob ran through him, and his throat felt too tight to continue the sentence.

  Nodding, Konoha shifted a bit so that they were in a more comfortable position. "Okay. I won't die if it'll make you unhappy, Shintaro. I promise."

  Shintaro didn't respond, instead focusing on making himself stop shaking. He was still having trouble breathing, but he wasn't hyperventilating anymore, which was a step forward. They sat together like that for a few minutes while Shintaro listened to Konoha's heartbeat, and Konoha didn't seem to mind.

  "Konoha," Shintaro mumbled, and then didn't continue.

  "Mmm?"

  "Why," he hesitated a moment, "why did you save me?" He gulped, trying to slow down his words, but failing. "Why did you jump off the cliff after me?"

  Konoha blinked, barely pausing to think before he answered. "Because I didn't want you to get hurt, Shintaro."

  "But--" It was getting difficult for him to talk, again. "Did you... know you weren't going to die?"

  Konoha shook his head, and Shintaro felt tears start welling again.

  "Then _why--"_

  "Because I like you, Shintaro." Konoha interrupted, and Shintaro looked up speechlessly. "I wanted to protect you, because I like you."

  Shintaro sniffled, "But if one of us had to die--"

  "I don't want you to die." Konoha smiled gently as he said this, and Shintaro couldn't help but let out another small wail as he dissolved into tears again. Konoha's answers were always so disarmingly simple, and Shintaro hated it.

  After a few moments, Shintaro had at least recovered enough to be able to speak again. "You're so..." He trailed off, unsure of what word he wanted to use.

  "I'm sorry," Konoha replied, grip slackening slightly.

  Shintaro pulled them back close again, slowly lying them both back down on the bed. Konoha allowed it, shuffling himself around so that Shintaro could be curled up against his stomach.

  "...You don't have to apologize." Shintaro mumbled, closing his stinging eyes and loosening his grip now that Konoha seemed to be moving them close together anyways.

  Konoha made a small "Mmm," at that, pulling up the bedsheets that had been kicked down and laying his head down above Shintaro's so that his face was in his hair. He draped an arm over Shintaro, caressing his back in repetitive, soothing motions.

  Quiet fell across the room as Konoha closed his eyes, his hand eventually stopping.

  "Please don't ever leave, Konoha," Shintaro murmured, not even sure if Konoha was still awake to hear him.

  "...I won't," came the eventual, sleepy answer.

  Shintaro shuffled himself in closer, allowing his consciousness to slip away now that he'd been able to calm down, and no longer felt nearly as panicked as he had before. "Promise?"

  "I promise, Shintaro."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its been forever since i last updated i promise ill get some more stuff posted soon Ugh  
> this ones a bit on the longer side though so maybe it makes up for it... T_T

When Momo left her phone at the base and didn’t realize until the next morning, it was Ene who showed up and shouted through the speaker until Kido picked it up and asked what was wrong. In the end, she refused to give an explanation until Konoha was talking to her, claiming it was “her master’s orders” and she had to “keep her lips sealed”. Kido sighed, wandering into various rooms until she finally spotted him on one of the couches.

“Konoha? Hey, Konoha, wake up, Ene wants you.”

Konoha, who’d been busy falling asleep again after his second breakfast until Ene had decided to start screaming, perked up at the sound of his name. “Mnn..?”

There was, with no explanation, a cell phone in his hands the next moment. Kido returned to what she’d been doing earlier, which was swatting Seto out the door to his job and trying to reign Kano in before she could sit down to brush out Mary’s tangled bedhead.

From there, Ene rattled off a tangled explanation of what was going on. All Konoha got was that Momo had left her phone behind, but couldn’t go and get it herself and had specifically requested him to deliver it. A long list of what he wasn’t allowed to do followed: he wasn’t allowed to look at Momo’s photos, browser, texts, or voicemails, scratch the phone, dent it, drop it, get it wet...

Essentially, he was to return it in pristine condition. That sounded like an easy enough task until he realized he had long fingers and large hands, fumbling treacherously every time he tried to hold it.  He still wasn't used to cell phones, the last and only other time he'd had to hold one having been when he'd first met Ene and Shintaro and subsequently received an earful of words he still didn't understand.

Ene wasn't doing more than barking directions, sharply correcting him whenever he started heading the wrong way. He should know where to go, she grumbled loudly, pouting and looking away. He didn't, and said sorry for the who-knew-how-manyth time that day. It was a back-and-forth conversation of orders and apologies, and the only interruptions to the routine were whenever Konoha came an inch from breaking Momo's phone into a dozen pieces.

It was with great relief that he finally made it to the Kisaragi residence and knocked awkwardly on the door instead of doing as Ene strongly recommended, which was to “just barge right in”. There was a loud stream of bangs and crashes through the house, which steadily made their way towards the entryway while Konoha stood in delayed silence.

The door flung open, and Momo’s head immediately poked out. “Oh! Konoha! You’re here. Did you bring my phone?”

He nodded eagerly and carefully put the phone into her hands, proud that he’d been able to help her. “See? No scratches, either.”

Momo smiled vaguely at his odd behaviour, tucking the phone into one of her pockets. “Y-yeah, I see that, thanks a bunch! Ugh, I would’ve gone to get it myself, but my wimpy brother got sick and I don’t want to leave him alone at home when he’s bedridden and practically delusional.”

Konoha watched her slump dramatically against the doorframe, and they both heard Ene speak up and say something that couldn’t be made out through Momo’s clothes.

Without any input from Konoha, she continued her melodramatic spiel. “And, like, for _once_ I meet some cool people… and now I get left behind because he can’t go outside without getting, like, terminally ill from a bit of sun. So much for ‘I research how to cure diseases in my spare time’... he’s _such_ an ass.”

Konoha nodded like he understood, which he really didn’t more than that Shintaro was sick and Momo didn’t want to have to stick around taking care of him.

“I could…” he mumbled in the pause Momo took to catch her breath, “I could watch him… and… then… you can go out, right?”

Momo stopped, staring at him like an angel descended to save her from Hell. Which, to be fair, was a pretty realistic comparison. “Would you really?! Thank you so, _so_ much, Konoha! You’re amazing, I can’t believe it! I had my doubts, but I guess my brother knows who to choose.”

She beamed, eyes glimmering as she welcomed him in and started grabbing her things. Konoha didn’t really have anything to say, but Momo proved able to hold up an entire conversation by herself. “Now I get to go hang out with Leader… ah, what should I wear, what should I wear… What I had on yesterday was cute, right? And I don’t think I got _too_ sweaty… so it should be fine…”

Konoha nodded vaguely, watching her run upstairs, slam her door shut - there was a muffled “Sorry, Shintaro, didn’t mean to be so loud!” immediately following - and then reappear a minute later wearing an entirely different set of clothes than before. She barrelled back down the stairs, completely out of breath by the time she was tugging on her shoes.

“So, like, I dunno, just hang out with him or something. He’s not gonna wanna eat anything but make sure he at least gets down some ramen or something, because his dumb cola diet isn’t helping anyone. There’s medicine above the fridge, but don’t give it to him without letting him check the bottle first, uh… I dunno. It’s up to you. He’s really needy but you don’t really have to do anything else if you don’t want to. You’re good, right? Know what to do?”

Konoha nodded and repeated, at his own slow pace, more or less what she’d just said.

“Bingo! Yeah, and, uh, watch out. Fever’s got him pretty bad, and earlier he kept sobbing and whining things about rooftops and hospitals that made _absolutely_ no sense, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was him just hallucinating his hent-- uh, anime.” She rolled her eyes, shrugging on her hoodie. “It was pretty pathetic. But, uh, be nice to him, still. I dunno, smile and nod like you understand when he goes off on the weird stuff. I don’t want him throwing a tantrum because he’s sick and frustrated.”

Konoha listened to all of her drawling explanations in patient silence, trying his best to take in what he could. Eventually, she sighed and just told him to ask Ene or, worst case scenario, call her if he _really_ needed anything that he couldn’t find in one of the kitchen cabinets. With that, she finally sprinted out the door and left Konoha standing there as he waved vacantly.

The house was quiet without her energy, and Konoha peeked into all the rooms as he tried to memorize the layout. He ended up walking through the kitchen three times and got temporarily lost barely a few feet from the door, so it wasn’t much of a success. He decided to conquer the upstairs following this, and remembered Momo’s instructions that he was only allowed in the bathroom, at the end of the hall, and Shintaro’s room, which was right beside it. Everything else was off-limits, and he didn’t see any reason to want to go into those rooms anyways.

He knocked on what he hoped was Shintaro’s room, assuming he hadn’t mixed up her instructions, and waited for a response.

“Momo…?” Shintaro sniffled, voice raw.

Konoha shook his head despite that Shintaro couldn’t see it. “No, Konoha.”

“Wh-what? ...Uh, where’s Momo?”

Konoha’s mouth was already open to explain when Ene’s voice rose up from within the room. “She went out. You _asked_ for Konoha, didn’t you? Said he’d be the best out of everyone, because you’re too creepy around the girls, Hibiya is, like, eight, Kano scares you, and Seto was busy.”

“E-Ene, I didn’t _say_ any of that! And I’m not a creep…” he whined, but it was obvious the conviction wasn’t there in his already-weak voice.

“You’re the creepiest person I know, Master. It’s gross. I saw you ogling Mary, and talking to Kido makes you get really sweaty and then you get your gross fingers all over your phone screen. I envy the people who don’t have to see the world through a layer of grease half the time.”

Shintaro grumbled in exasperation. “A-anyways, it’s not like I said Konoha should come and, uh, take care of me, I just said he’d be the least likely to get all judgemental if someone had to bring over Momo’s phone and knew I was _sick_ …”

Konoha had quietly opened the door and stepped in in the middle of their argument, and it wasn’t for a few frazzled moments that someone finally noticed him. Shintaro jolted around when Ene pointed silently towards the door, the damp towel on his forehead slipping off and falling onto the bedding beside him.

“O-oh, jesus, hi, Konoha. Didn’t realize you came in…” He cut himself off with a string of coughs, sucking in saliva when he’d finally recovered. “Taking over for Momo, yeah…?”

Konoha nodded. “Mmhmm. She said she didn’t want to keep watching you.”

Shintaro’s expression faltered a moment, and then he huffed and forced a smile. “Ah, ‘course… well, whatever. Y’know, you--” he had another coughing fit, and Konoha paced towards him to make sure he didn’t need help. “...I’m fine. You don’t really have to be here, I just have a fever. I-if you wanna leave, that’s cool.”

Shaking his head vigorously, Konoha tried to put as much insistence into his tone as he could. “N-no, I want to help you…! Momo told me not to leave you alone, either.”

“Yeah, uh, besides, Master,” Ene started from the computer, “an hour and a half ago you were half-delusional and crying about the color red.”

Shintaro turned to her, hissing through his teeth. “I _wasn’t_ doing that.”

“I recorded it. It’s pretty sad, y’know,” she giggled. “Maybe I should let Konoha listen to it~?”

Konoha started getting dizzy with how many times he had to swing his head between them as they started arguing again, which only ended when Shintaro slammed his palms on the bed and rose his voice as loud as his throat would allow. _“Stop_ it, Ene! Go away already, you’re just being loud and making my head hurt even _more.”_

Ene huffed, and disappeared into a cloud of pixels.

It was immediately calmer without all that tension in the room, and Shintaro relaxed into the mountain of pillows that had accumulated on his bed. The quiet was nice, but Konoha had to wonder where Ene had even gone.

For a slow few hours, Konoha didn’t do much for Shintaro. He got him food, medicine, and listened to his incoherent talk after the painkillers kicked in and before he passed out again, but there wasn’t much else. He sat on the floor, for the most part, leaning against Shintaro’s bed and listening to him talk or shuffle around in his sleep.

It was getting late when Konoha finally started falling asleep where he was seated on the edge of the bed, red rays of light hitting his chest from a gap in the blinds. It was then that Shintaro finally woke up again, groaning in pain and rolling around to face Konoha.

"Mmh… hey… Konoha, I’m surprised you’re still here. Momo’s still not back yet?” He yawned, staring up at him drowsily.

Konoha shook his head heavily, trying not to start nodding off again.

“Ugh… what time is it… God, I'm so c-cold," Shintaro mumbled nasally, shivering violently under his mountain of blankets and pillows. He extended a feeble arm to drag a few more on top of himself, which Konoha helped him with.

After letting him settle back in, Konoha scooted a little closer and placed the back of his hand against Shintaro's forehead. Shintaro jolted at the sudden contact, but relaxed into a pleasant moan as soon as he realized how comfortably cool Konoha's skin was.

"Shintaro, your skin feels really hot. Are you okay?" He paused. "Are… are you dying?"

Shintaro grumbled unhappily. "Of course I'm not okay!" Accompanying the exclamation, he slapped his arms down on the bed and sat up. "And I wish I was dying, because that's sure as hell what I feel like. Ow."

"What's wrong?" Konoha questioned immediately, putting a hand helplessly on top of the one Shintaro didn't bring to his temple. "Do you need the doctor? I know a doctor, his name's--"

"No," he cut in swiftly, "no, Konoha, I don't need a doctor. I just have a headache, and it... ow, it hurts a lot."

Konoha stared down at his hands before eventually replying. "Oh. D-do you want me to leave? It'll be less loud. Is that helpful?"

Shintaro squinted open his eyes from where he'd fallen back on his pillow. "What? Uh, n-no, you don’t have to leave. Keep talking, o-or whatever.” Quieter, he continued, “Just… stick around.”

Konoha looked up at him for a moment, and his eyes lit up. Shintaro shuffled further into his blankets and hid his face, blaming his moment of insecurity on the raging fever.

“Shintaro,” he started after a pause, “what… do you want me to talk about?”

Still hidden under the blankets, the bedding shifted with Shintaro’s shrug. “Mmm… I dunno… you don’t have to say anything if you don’t wanna. I-if you just, um, want to sit next to me, th-that’s okay too.”

Konoha was on the verge of saying something when another violent shiver coursed through Shintaro’s body, and he stared over at him in a moment of hesitation. “Are you really cold, Shintaro? I’m not. Can I help you get warm?”

Shintaro suddenly pulled the sheets away from his face, “What… do you mean?”

Konoha blinked as if it was obvious, which it unfortunately was not. “If I lie beside you, you’ll feel warmer, right?” There was a pause, and Shintaro’s throat made an odd choked sound that Konoha missed. “That’s helpful, and then you’ll get better and then you can go outside again and not feel bad.”

Shintaro’s entire body went flush, which he blamed on his fever instead of the confusing mixture of embarrassment, denial, and underlying desire. “B-but, um, Konoha, if you do that, then you’ll get sick too…”

Konoha shrugged, leaving Shintaro at an utter loss and without any argument left. What should he tell him, ‘no, you’re a guy’? Sure, maybe that was what he wanted to say, but it wasn’t very reasonable and he had his doubts about how well Konoha would understand without a long and intricate lesson he didn’t want to give even _with_ a clear head and functional throat.

“I… alright, then, I guess… maybe… it might help a bit.” His nonchalant facade was instantly betrayed by a flurry of sneezes, and Konoha waited until he was done to start shuffling around Shintaro. He started tugging at the sheets without any kind of warning, crawling comfortably underneath. On the other hand, Shintaro immediately tensed at the sudden closeness. The natural warmth pressed against his body was relaxing, however, and he felt himself melt into Konoha’s arms as they wrapped securely around his waist.

Neither of them knew when they fell asleep, but considering how much Shintaro tossed and turned it could be reasonably assured that Konoha was the first one out. He snored quietly in Shintaro’s ear, lulling him into a delirious string of dreams that, for the most part, were unmemorable aside from the fact that Konoha had been in all of them.

After her eventual return late at night, Momo peeked her head into her brother’s room and was surprised to see, upon close investigation, a soft tuft of white hair accompanying her brother’s disgustingly unwashed own. She smiled to herself when she tiptoed back out, but not before taking a few photos at Ene’s request.

When Konoha woke up the next morning, it was to Shintaro’s face unusually close to his. Dizzily, he tried to lift himself up, but gave up when he realized his body felt uncomfortably weighed down and hot. He whimpered wordlessly and curled back into Shintaro’s neck, mumbling “I don’t feel right,” into the clammy skin.

Shintaro’s laugh was hoarse, ending on a depressed groan. His arms reached loosely around Konoha, who replied in kind. Shintaro settled his face into Konoha’s hair with a long sigh, stroking Konoha’s back as he shuddered with coughs. “See, Konoha, I told you. Now we’re _both_ sick.”

After another round of rough coughs, Konoha peeked his face out and sniffled. He shrugged vaguely, smiling as he nuzzled into Shintaro’s chest just slightly more. “Mmm… but… then that means I get to sleep beside you all day, so… maybe getting sick isn’t a bad thing…?”

For a long few seconds, Shintaro was entirely without response. Eventually, however, he conceded and _hmph_ ed quietly, failing at keeping the smile from his face.


End file.
